The Man by the Road
by Mask of Two Sides
Summary: He sits by himself, a pile of pokeballs at his side.  Nobody knows who he is or why he is willing to give them up to those who beat him with a pokemon from the pile.  Rated M for a reason.
1. Gardevoir by the Road

In a small town, a lone man sat with a pile of red-and-white orbs sitting beside him. The pokeballs had various pokemon of all types and levels of evolution inside them, all waiting for someone to summon them. People come and go, but none even look in his direction. But no matter how long he waits, the smile on his face never fades.

Then a boy, barely fourteen years of age, comes up and askes, "Why do you have so many pokeballs?"

"Because, my good lad, I will give you any pokemon I have in my collection, but only if you can defeat me with them."

"Alright, do you have a Gravler?"

The man shook his head, "Nope, sorry."

"What about an Onix?"

Another shake.

"What about a Gardevoir?"

The man thought about the question for a moment and reached out, snatching a pokeball from the pile. "Here we are, one Gardevoir. Open it up and take a look."

"Gardevoir, I choose you!" the boy hurled the pokeball into the air and watched as it popped open. A flash of light was ejected and came down to become the psychic pokemon Gardevoir.

The pokemon's flowing gown was white as snow and her green hair was almost like an emerald in its shine. The air around her almost seemed to hum from the high levels of mental energy she had at her command. She was a true wonder of her kind. When the pokemon locked eyes with her new trainer, the boy understood all of her abilities. It was like she was telling him through her mind.

The man looked over the pile and grabbed a pokeball of his own before walking out into the open field behind him. "Alright, here we go. Golem, I choose you!" He hurled the pokeball before him, summoning a large boulder of a pokemon. The golem's round body was massive and looked extremely hard. "Since you're so young, you can go first."

"Gardevoir, use Psychic!" the boy commanded and his pokemon nodded. The Golem began to glow with a strange aura and was sent flying though the air. It came down with such a crash that it left an imprint on the ground.

"Golem, use Rollout!" The Golem came bursting out of the hole and rolled at an amazing speed.

"Gardevoir, use Psychic again!" The Gardevoir focused her mind again, but the Golem was too close and moving too fast. She could only lift him off the ground, sending it flying over the pokemon's head. It came down through the roof a house and a woman inside screemed.

"Golem, use Earthquake!" The Golem leaped out of the house, a surprising stunt considering its bulk. Wooden beams were shattered like they were toothpicks. Then it came down such such force that it caused the ground to shake. The building collapsed upon itself and rocks were thrown into the air towards its opponent, who could only barely dodge them. It was only because of luck that the Trainer had moved to a new position after the Golem came flying over his head. But he still couldn't believe the destruction brought about by the errant attack. He had to stop this.

"Gardevoir, use Hypnosis!" He watched as the Golem slowed it's advance and sat itself down. After seeing what the Psychic attack had done, he didn't want a repeat. But there was a move he could use still. "Use Nightmare!"

The Gardevoir connected her mind with the slumbering Golem's, allowing her to alter his dreams. At first it looked as if nothing had happened; then its head twitched, revealing that it was indeed suffering from a nightmare. But then the Golem started thrashing about in its sleep. It pushed itself up and fell to the ground again and again, unable to control itself while it screamed in agony. Its eyes opened but it kept screaming with pure fear. Then it lost its footing and started to roll towards the Gardevoir. She tried to use Telekinesis to hold him still, but it was too late.

The two dissapeared in a flash of bright light as the Golem used Explosion. The shockwave seemed to shatter the rip the air around them as pieces of Golem shell mixed with shreds of white gown fell back to earth.

The boy could only stare in shock as his newly-befriended pokemon was nothing more than bits and pieces fluttering in the wind. But the man didn't seem concerned by what had just transpired. He wandered up to the pile of pokeballs, which strangely hadn't moved from their spot. He grabbed another pair of pokeballs and tossed one to the boy. The pokeball opened, revealing another Gardevoir.

She touched his face and smiled, bringing his mind back to reality. He hugged her and wondered if it had all been a figment of his imagination. His mind was so shocked that he didn't even notice the fallen house or the blood that stained the ground.

"Alright, I choose Steelix!"

"Gardevoir, use Future Sight!"

The Steelix looked around, but nothing happened. The man did the same and shrugged before giving his command, "Steelix, use Slam!"

The giant snake-like pokemon raised its tail and brought it down upon the Gardevoir, who couldn't get out of the way in time. The Steelix pulled back, revealing a badly injured Gardevoir. But she was still alive; if only barely.

"Use Psy Beam!" the boy almost screamed. He wanted to help her, to tell her that she was going to be ok. But he had to beat his opponent if he wished to keep her. The Gardevoir weakly raised her arm, which was broken in nearly seven places. One of her fingers were bent at a strange angle while another was missing entirely. She hit the Steelix with all she had, focusing all her power and will into one beam of psychic energy. The blast blew back the Steelix's head, but it only seemed to daze it for a few seconds.

"Steelix, use Bite!" The pokemon scooped up the fallen Gardevoir along with a chunk of earth and bit down. The boy couldn't hear the Gardevoir's screams over his own as the Steelix's teeth crushed the lower half of her body.

"Gardevoir, use Psychic!" The boy could only watch as the pokemon weakly lifted her head. "Use Psy Beam, use Hypnosis...use anything!" Unfortunately, the pokemon had flinched when her pelvic bone was turned to dust.

"Alright, let's finish this."

"No, don't! Don't do it!"

"Steelix, use Chomp!" The Steelix shifted her around in it's mouth to get her into a better position. The Gardevoir looked down and reached out for its trainer before the Steelix closed its mouth. Blood sprayed out from between its teeth and dripped down its shovel-like chin. The boy could barely stand as the man went back to the pile to pick up another pokeball and tossed it by the boy. He still had a smile on his face and almost seemed happy with himself.

The pokeball opened to reveal another Gardevoir. She wrapped her arms around the boy, who was on the verge of crying. He was so happy to see her that he could barely stand. She had to help him to his feet because he just didn't have the strength to do so himself.

"Y...your al...alright?"

The Gardevoir nodded and walked out into the field where the Steelix still waited. She hit the Steelix with a Psy Beam that was so powerful, it blew the Steelix in half. The massive pokemon thrashed about, gasping for air, but its lungs had burst like ripe fruit.

"I...I...did it...I did it..." the boy did his best to smile, but then the Future Sight happened. He looked into her eyes, which were full of happyness and glee at becoming his pokemon, when her head was turned into a pink mist by a sudden wave of psychic energy. Her body reached out to him, still wanting to be by his side, before falling over.

The man wasn't smiling anymore as he dragged the body away and pulled out one of his eyes. He dropped it before the boy, who grabbed it without knowing what he was doing. He was concious, but his mind just wasn't there any longer. The man looked annoyed now as he pulled out his other eye, revealing it to be another pokeball, just like the one he gave the boy.

The two pushed the buttons on their pokeballs, causing them to expand, and cast their them out to reveal a pair of Darkrai. They looked at each other like mirror images, before looked down on the boy.

They seperated as the man strode towards the boy and grabbed him by his shirt. Then he spoke in rhyme, "Hello little boy, guess what _I_ can't see, just look at what you did to _me_! I am older than you, I am as old as time, you made me find your dreams but now they made you _mine_! Well, guess, what, it's the end of the show, is this just a dream, do me wrong and the answer...is...no..." The man removed his face to reveal Darkrai, who laughed as he gazed at the boy with empty eye sockets.

Then everything went black.

x

The boy woke from his horrible nightmare to find himself in the arms of his Gardevoir. She had a look of great concern on her face as she could feel what he was going through. She seemed qutie surprised when he suddenly hugged her. He looked into her left eye and traced his finger down the scar that had left the right blind. Even with her psychic abilities, it was difficult for her to see into the chaos that was his thoughts.

Then he got up and pulled a pokeball from his belt. It popped open in his hand and Darkrai appeared before him. He stared into the pokemon's eyes, wondering just how deep they went if they were the windows to its soul. He hung his head in defeat, finally realizing just what he had done to capture it.

"Take it and do with it as you wish." He held up the pokeball and waited.

Darkrai considered the action for a moment and nodded, taking the pokeball and flying off into the night. The boy, almost a man now, couldn't believe how stupid he had been during his journey. He went to his Gardevoir, who could sense the change in him and smiled.

"I can't thank you enough. If it wasn't for you, I might not have survived."

The Gardevoir grabbed his wrist and opened the map on his Poketch. She pointed to one location and looked at him. He stood there, shocked, and nodded.

The journey took nearly a week, but during that time, the boy kept his Gardevoir out of her pokeball and by his side. He made sure that she was well fed and kept her warm at night with his blanket. She even started to hold his hand again; just as she once did as a Kirlia.

Then they finally came to the Spirit Tower. He was nervous at first, because this was to be his third time here. But he took his pokemon's hand in his own and walked forwards. Inside, he located the five gravestones that were the reason for his second time being here.

One was for his Golem, whome he had ordered to use Explosion so often that its internal organs were ruined; it died when its heart failed. The second was for his onix; a pokemon he trained so hard with to make it a Steelix. But after being forced to train against one to many fighting-type pokemon, its rock body simply came apart.

As he honored these two with their favorite berries, he noticed that his Gardevoir was standing by the last three. He paused for a moment, but then he remembered that this had to happen. He joined up with her and dusted one of them off.

"I still remember this one so well. She was your grandmother and my first pokemon. I was so young that I tried to catch her with a bug net. But I tripped and fell on my face; I cried for so long that she just walked over and put herself in it. I was so happy that day that I actually 'caught' a pokemon." He moved to the second, "This one, beside her...your...mother." He could barely bring himself to speak. But then his Gardevoir hugged him. "I'm so sorry."

He had lost the first when he became lost in a dark forest full of ghost pokemon. The second he lost when he was trapped in a Lairon's gathering grounds. She fought to protect him and her two children; one being a Ralts and the other still an egg. Then he looked to the third and remembered it to be his Gardevoir's sister.

"I remember training your sister and making her strong and brave while you were still just an egg. I lost her when I failed to realize that she was poisoned. She was so proud and stubborn that she didn't let it show until it was too late. She was so much like me. But I'm not going to be like that any longer." He traced the scar on his Gardevoir's eye again. "I _will_ make it up to you. I will become a pokemon breeder and learn how to treat pokemon with the respect they deserve. Then I will teach other trainers how to do the same."

He left a berry on each of the three graves and left with his Gardevoir, who was happy for the change. Little did they know, a Ghasly had been watching the whole thing. It passed through the ceiling and floated high above the tower. From there it waited until nightfall.

Darkrai appeared before it as soon as the sun had vanished below the horizon. The Ghasly spoke of what the boy had done and how he had acted towards his fallen pokemon. Darkrai nodded and vanished into the darkness of the night. The Ghasly slowly faded to reveal the ghostly image of a Gardevoir before dissapearing completely, leaving a trail of light as she passed on.

Down the road, a lone figure was sitting by himself with a pile of pokeballs sitting beside him. There were not many people to meet him because it was dark now. Those who did pass didn't seem to notice him. But no matter how long he waits, the smile on his face never fades.

Then a girl, only twelve years old, came up to him and asked, "Why do you have so many pokeballs?"

"Because, my good girl, I will give you any pokemon I have in my collection, but only if you can defeat me with them."

"Do you have a Pikachu?"

The man shook his head, "Nope, sorry."

"What about a Charmander?

Another shake.

"What about a Togepi?"

The smile on his face only widens as he reaches out to grab a pokeball.


	2. Mamoswine by the River

Sitting by a river, a lone man was going fishing. He cast his line out, hoping to catch a big one. He waited for several hours, but nothing came. But the smile on his face never fades. For a young woman had been watching him for the past few minutes.

"Hey, what's with all the pokeballs?" she asks as she points at the pile sitting beside him.

"Because, my good woman, I will give you any pokemon I have in my collection, but only if you can defeat me with them."

The young woman whistled, "That's a challenge I can do. So, what you got?"

"You'll just have to ask and find out," the man replied, never looking away from his line. No luck yet.

"Do you have a Aggron?"

The man shook his head, not looking away from his line, "Nope, sorry."

"Well, what about a Magneton?"

Another shake.

"Okay, what about a Mamoswine?" the girl asked and caught the pokeball that she was tossed. She let the large pokemon out and it looked at its new trainer with fierce eyes. "Cool, this guy looks badass." The Mamoswine snorted with gratitude at the compliment.

He had to be the biggest Mamoswine in existance, with tusks that could rip through a tree and muscles as tough as rock. The look in his eyes showed the experience of many battles and how his spirit burned for another one.

The man reached into the pile, pulling out a pokeball and tossed it over his shoulder, "Magnezone, I choose you!" After the pokemon appeared, the woman stomped up to the man and grabbed his shirt.

"Hey, why didn't you tell me you had a Magnezone when I asked for a Magneton?"

"Because you didn't ask for a Magnezone. Now, shall we fight?"

"After what you pulled, you're going to pay. Mamoswine, use Ice Fang!"

The pokemon's tusks began to glow with a blue light before charging, slamming into the Magnezone and tossing it into the air. But it shook the attack off, its steel body withstanding the attack, but it still flinched from such a strong blow that left a dent in its side.

"Alright, Take Down!" the woman cried and her pokemon nodded, charging so hard that it leaped into the air, slamming into the Magnezone again and causing it heavy damage. This time, even being part steel type didn't save it from damage as one of Mamoswine's caused another dent.

The Magnezone fired Magnet Bomb, which homed in on its opponent and exploded with heavy force. Mamoswine roared in pain as the super effective attack cracked one of his tusks.

"Come on, hit it again and make it count this time! Use Earthquake!"

"Mamoswine!" the pokemon roared as he slammed his foot down, causing the ground before him to crack and rip open. A large boulder was suddenly launched from the ground, slamming into Magnezone, who was then hurled into Mamoswine's face and impaled on his tusk.

Magnezone let out a metallic scream as Mamoswine tossed it about, trying to dislodge it. There was a bright light as the pokemon used Flash Cannon, gathering all its light energy and unleashing it on the Mamoswine. But while in its state of pain, the energy had become unstable and the attack merely detonated instead.

All there was left was a single magnet and a piece of a tusk. The area where they had stood was nothing but bare dirt, the explosion having destroyed everything in the explosion. The woman looked on with shock, which quickly turned to anger.

"What the hell was that about?!" she yelled, only to stop in her place when he tossed her another pokeball. Inside it was another Mamoswine. It was just as big, but it was covered in scars from previous battles. But it still had the fighting spirit of the first, which was enough to calm the woman.

"Lairon, I choose you!" the man called as he tossed another pokeball over his shoulder. The Lairon took a moment to stamp his feet before he started to glow. At that moment, he stood up on his hind legs and roared as a Aggron.

"Okay, what the hell is this?!" the woman yelled. "Your Lairon was about to evolve, and you didn't even think to tell me?"

"He was still a Lairon. You asked specifically if I had a Aggron." The man waved his hand before returning to his fishing.

"You're a basterd, you know that? Mamoswine, use Ancient Power!"

Several small boulders began to glow as Mamoswine used his power to lift them into the air and hurl them towards the Aggron. But at that moment, the Aggron used Autotomize to shed parts of his armor, becoming fast enough to dodge the attack and slam into the Mamoswine.

"Use Earthquake!"

Mamoswine lifted his foot, only to have his tusk snapped off. In his pain, he slammed the ground, revealing a deep underground cave, in which he fell. He squealed with horror as he fell into the darkness, never to return to the light.

The woman was visibly shaken by what she had seen and it barely registered that another pokeball had just struck her shoulder. This Mamoswine was as big as the first two, but his body was covered in battle scars. He was blind in one eye, one tusk was missing and the other was painfully cracked, and patches of his fur was missing all over his body. He was a mess, to be sure.

Even in his condition, he wanted to fight. But one of his legs had healed wrong after a battle and he was slowed down as he had to struggle with it. The Aggron, having sped himself up from shedding his armor, tackled the Mamoswine. Mamoswine roared and surprised his trainer by impaling the Aggron on his remaining tusk.

The Aggron slammed his fists down upon the pokemon, trying to get free, but as he struggled, he took more and more damage. As his blood spilled onto the ground, his attacks got weaker and weaker until the pokemon couldn't stand it anymore. Mamoswine pulled back, letting the Aggron fall to the ground.

The woman only looked on in horror as her new pokemon turned around, his face covered in blood. The Mamoswine coughed and sputtered, his heart weak from the fight. As he struggled to walk over to his trainer, now hers to keep, the Aggron slowly got up to his feet.

This wasn't over yet. As long as he drew breath, it wasn't over. He stamped his foot, using Earthquake. But the move only tore open the ground, sending the Aggron into the abyss below.

"Mamoswine!" the pokemon screamed, fighting with all he had to get to his trainer, who could only watch in utter horror as the ground gave way. "Mamoswiiiiiii-" he squealed as he fell into the endless darkness of the underground cave. There wasn't even the sound of impact as he dissapeared.

The woman reached out towards the hole that had just stole the Mamoswine from her. Her blood was running cold and she was struggling to breathe. Then the smile faded from the man's face as he hurled his fishing rod into the water.

"They tell you once, they tell you twice, you failed to listen and now you pay the price. I've seen so much, but I'll never tell, you'll never know all the lives that fell. But it doesn't matter, this is all not as it will seem, but continue as you are and I will make...you...scream!"

The man turned to look at her with empty eyes, laughing as the girl began to scream.

x

"NO!" she cried as she was jolted from her sleep. She rummaged through stuff until she found her pokeballs and found the one she wanted. She cast it out of her tent and a Mamoswine appeared before her.

He was a mess after all his battles. But even in his condition, the fighting spirit within him never burned out. He was confused about the look on his trainer's face though, as she charged out of her tent to hug him.

"I'm oh so sorry! I should have never treated you as I did!"

"Mamo...swine?" the pokemon looked at his trainer as the moon came out to bathe the area in its soft light. Was she crying?

"I'm so sorry. If it wasn't for me, Magnemite and Lairon would still be here with us. I should have known that there was a Steelix tunnel there, but I didn't pay attention to the warnings." She hugged her pokemon, who laid himself down so she could cry herself to sleep up against his side.

This was the first time she had shown such emotion in a long time. She loved and cared for him when he was just a baby Swinub. She made sure he got lots of good food and exercise and helped train him until he evolved. After several years, she began to toughen herself up, becoming a strong young woman.

But he had so missed the gentler side of her. That was the one side of his trainer that he had been wanting to see in so long. Once she had fallen asleep, he let out one last snort that turned her tears into dusty ice that blew away in the wind. Then he slowly closed his eyes. He had got to see the trainer he cared for so much.

In the morning, the woman slowly stirred from her sleep. When she felt his ragged fur against her cheek, she opened her eyes and hugged her large friend. But when he didn't wake, she began to panic.

"No...no...no, no, no! Mamoswine! Please no, please, don't go! Don't leave me! Come on, you're tougher than that, I know you are! Please...no...please...don't' leave me all alone. You're the only friend I have left..."

But it was too late to even say goodbye. His body was unusually cold and there was no sound of his heart beating in his chest. But she could see in his face the feeling of content he had had felt before the end.

"Mamoswine!" she wailed before breaking down in tears.

She spent the next several hours finding rocks with which to create a grave for her pokemon. It didn't matter how much her body hurt as she carried the heavy stones, for she would not stop.

Once she was done, she watched the clouds floating by as the wind slowly settled. But then she heard something in the distance. It sounded like a squeal. No matter what it was, she bolted as fast as she could. There, she found a baby Swinub, barely having hatched, but lost and all alone.

"Oh, you poor baby. Come here, let me take care of you. Oh, you're a fiesty one, aren't you?"

The Swinub had a lot of energy for one so young and was almost bouncing in her arms. She took it to her tend and gave it some MooMoo Milk she had. It was love at first sight for her as this little one reminded her so much of her pokemon.

Later on, just as she was about to leave, she found a baby Aron. She took that one in too, who was happy to have someone to care for it. The two baby pokemon were instant friends as they chased and played with each other.

When the time came for the young woman to leave, she said a prayer for her old friend and left him to restart her journey with these two babies in tow. But this time, she wasn't going to be the person she had been before. She was going to care for them as they cared for her. These were her new friends and there was no way she was going to lose them.

That night, the ghostly outline of a Mamoswine left the gravesight, bounding off towards the moon as Darkrai watched on as he sat by a road. When the light of the moon was at its brightest, there was nothing more than a pile of stones left in memory of a much-loved pokemon whose journey has come to an end. But a lone woman had been watching from the shadows, her eyes focused on Darkrai the entire time. She was the whole reason that the younger woman was able to regain the pokemon she lost, having carried the eggs here. She quickly disappeared into the shadows, wanting to be gone from here as soon as she could.

Three days later, a young boy found a man sitting by a tree, a depressed look on his face. When he asked about the pile of pokeballs, the man asked the boy if he would ever let his pokemon be harmed. When the boy told him that he wanted to become a pokemon breeder who cared more for the pokemon than for battling, a smile appeared on the man's face. He handed the boy a Ralts and watched as the two danced together. Then they ran off to tell the boy's mother the good news.

But the smile would get even wider as a young man approached, wondering if he could get a Golem. No, the smile would not fade, not as long as he had a pile of pokeballs by his side. The smile would get wider and wider as each new young soul comes looking for a pokemon.


End file.
